Dreams and Desires of a Silent Heart

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Ghar (Coke Studio) – Lyrics and Meaning (Piyush Mishra)

This is another of those songs which at first go might pass for just another song, but then it grows on you. I love the way Piyush jee’s simple analogies provoke so much thought and so many emotions. Here is a youtubelink to the song if you have never heard it before. The tune is somewhat similar to ek bagal mein chaand hoga, in a different beat (at least that is what I felt). Find the literal meaning of the lines here, followed by my interpretation of this beautiful song🙂

zuzuzu…………………..

Ki ujla hi ujla sheher hoga jismein hum tum banaayenge ghar

Dono rahenge kabootar se jismein hoga na baazon ka darr

Meaning : A city which is bright and full of light, we will build our house there. We will live like a pair of doves, without the fear of hawks

Interpretation : We will build a house in a bright, happy, peaceful city (Love the comparison to the birds through out the song) live like the doves (symbolizing love) ,where there will be no fear of people (or society) trying to separate us. (the hawks symbolizing the enemies of their love).

Meaning : The cuckoo bird tell me she is my friend, the mynaah will tell me I am not alone,

The ducks probably will be smiling inside their beaks, and the herons will ask us to wake up

But we will just lie there with our eyes closed, kneading a string of streets in our hearts

We will forget that there is a street (path) that leads to the world on the other side (of the wall)

When we knit our nights with silver wire, our mornings will shine.

Interpretation : In this first stanza, the girl describes to her beloved, the house of her dreams and the way she wants to spend her life there. Imagine a house with soft velvety walls, brightly lit, with no dark corners, flowery doors with sandalwood fragrance filling the air, yellow leaves scattered in the courtyard, on which we can walk together. (love the innocence here of just walking on dry leaves to listen to the crunching noise, been a while since I did that :)). The cuckoo birds and the mynaah (symbolizing friends) will reassure me that they are my friends, and then there will be neighbors looking at us from a distance (ducks) who will be happy for us too, and there will be the elders (herons, large birds) trying to wake us up, but we will pretend that this world around us does not exist, we will be so lost in each other, weaving our dreams together, that we will forget that there is way to this outside world from our house too. And these wonderful dreams that we weave together through the night, will make our mornings (or future) bright.

We will go touch the stars gently and cautiously, and then we will slip suddenly on the moon

We will flow away from the air around us, and the sun will look at us as it burns (in jealousy)

Hoga nahi hum pe maaloom saathi, teeno jahan ka asar,

Raahon ko rahe batayenge saathi hum, aisa haan hoga safar…

But you know what, there will be no effect of the three worlds on us

We will show way to the roads, such will be our journey.

Interpretation : In this second stanza, the girl expresses her love for her beloved and how much she values his companionship. That when he comes home tired, she will listen to everything he says, and sometimes she might be in tears, but she knows that even before the tears leave her eyes, her beloved will already have his fingers on her cheeks to wipe them off, that with him around, she has nothing to be scared of, and she knows she will get everything even before she asks for it. The only thing she wants is to be by his side always. In this dreamy world of hers, there will be no restrictions on them and no limits (I like how he uses the horizon to describe infinity or a boundlessness), She knows that together they can reach for the stars, slide on the moon and ride the winds, and make the burning sun all the more jealous. (again the childlike innocence). But nothing will change them or change the love that they share, and together they will show the world how to live,how to enjoy this beautiful journey of life with love and togetherness.

Isn’t that a wonderful journey together, the one you would want to live with your loved one. Again this is my take on the song — a dream woven by two people deeply in love, a dream of a rosy world, where everything is pretty and filled with love far away from this world full of chaos and confusion. The song could also be comforting words to a loved one or a lullaby (with all the zu zu zu ….s🙂 ).

Just sit in a silent room, close your eyes and listen to the song. That’s what I did and whatever I felt or experienced I typed it out here. It took me back to one of those times, when I could sleep all I want, listen to every word spoken to me with awe, when everything that happened was magic, when I would extend my arm outside the window towards the sky, and feel like I actually touched the stars, when everyone around me was a friend (because I did not know what enemy meant), when I was convinced that fairies exist. I think that was the last time I would have dreamed of a house or a life like the one described in this song. May be its time to start dreaming again……

What do you see when you close your eyes and listen to the song? A loved one? A cherished dream? A dreamland? A long lost friend?

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Hi Krithya! Thanks for the translation🙂 Beautiful lyrics. This is the stuff that dreams are made of and, hats off to Mishra for weaving them together into a song. Last time i was here, it was for the translation of a Pyush Mishra song too. In fact, i had requested you to post translations of ‘Husna’ and ‘Duniya’ and you were kind enough to oblige. I was absentmindedly searching for ‘coke studio ghar translation’ and your’s was the first link in the results. Fitting, if you ask me.
I am checking your other posts. You are quite a photographer too! If you have posted your photos on flickr, do provide the link.

Hi Darshan ,
Thank you for the kind words.
As you must have already noticed, these discoveries (songs) are made by someone else, I just record the words here, I am always thankful to readers like you who introduce me to such beautiful gems, I would have been oblivious to them otherwise.
Currently I just use this blog to upload pictures, I do not have a flickr account.
What about you? Do you have a blog and/or a flickr account?
Cheers
Krithya🙂
PS : I like how your comment is structured almost like an email message, (with a salutation and a sign off)🙂 , gives the comment a personal touch. (I hope you did not mind me copying your style :D)

Hi Krithya,
Thanks for the kind words (Guess its my turn to copy your style now:-D). Really, its the readers like me who should be thankful to you for making us enjoy such beautiful songs to the fullest, for quite a bit of words are lost on most of us. I like how straight forward and, should i say, candid your blog posts(comments too!) are . There is a straight-from-the-heart-frankness that is so endearing. You should post on flicker. Some of your photos are brilliant.

I don’t have a blog. Been contemplating on starting one for some time now which could encompass the areas i am passionate about – Books, Scotch whisky, Blues music, Classic Rock, Photography, Perfumes and Politics with some philosophy thrown in – but i know the concoction would be unpalatable to most😀
I have a defunct flickr account, though. I do plan to get it running again as i just acquired new equipment and have started clicking copiously.

Cheers!
Darshan.

P.S. I plead ignorance. Honestly, i don’t really know how an email is supposed to be structured!😀

Its really great to see the interpretations of the songs I love. I can figure out bit and pieces, but getting to know the whole song seems so beautiful in itself.
thanks a lot for sharing such wonderful things. Keep posting🙂

Thank you so much Krithya….when one absorbs the meaning of these lyrics, it feels light and wonderful…these days, we have so much to achieve that we forget or become insensitive to these innocent emotions…. This song is written by Piyush ji in a background of communal tension that takes a toll on a Muslim girl and her Hindu lover….he included this song in his play…the couple has fierce enemies who in the name of religion want to kill them…the girl here thinks of a situation where she and her love can escape these HAWKS and live peacefully in a perfect imagined place…very touching….

Hey Abhinit
Thanks for sharing that information. I was not aware of the story behind the song, I just heard it and wrote what I felt about the song, but now I can see where the words come from.
It is always nice to know what goes on the mind of the artist creating a piece of art.- a poem, a painting, a song, a picture anything🙂 Thank you
Cheers
Krithya

Hi krithya..
I love piyush mishra.. Ghar is my favourite. I used to listen this song at least 5 times a day.it is rich of literature and pleasing. Let’s say I understood the song well..but it had such deep meaning ..after reading ur post I am truely grateful to you.mesmerised by the interapration. Thank you so so much.such great song.. True genius..and thanks to u again for the work you have put in but I am sure you would have enjoyed doing it..such is the magic of this song.

Hats off to you Krithya.. as beautiful as the song is.. your interpretation only adds to the charm. Stupendous job!! As others have mentioned here, I am more in love with the song now. At times, I make my non-hindi speaking friends listen to my favorites, now I can recommend this link to them for the lyrical interpretation🙂

Glad you found it useful Ashish. Please do visit again. Though I haven’t been posting much for quite sometime now, but the kind words in the comments make me smile and make me want to post more often. Thank you.

This song really grows on you, as you have said. Ever since I heard it (like a week back), its tune is constantly running in my subconscious. Even when I am in bed trying to sleep or while taking shower (I am regional champion in bathroom singing ;)), the tune starts manifesting itself. The words are a little difficult to remember and recite, and that’s where your blog came in – it helped a lazy soul like me to pause/play the song and take down the lyrics. It has now become my soul song…. the words are so beautiful and the meaning so deep….

You may also like another song from Barfi sung by the Rekha Bhardwaj (and also by Arijit Singh) – Phir le aaya dil… I am sure you have heard that. I like the female version better as it has more longing and melancholy (mostly due to Rekha’s rustic and earthy voice). Enjoy!!

Thanks for dropping by Rajiv and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Well these are little things that only a music lover will understand. I used to sit for hours with a notebook and pen, jotting down lyrics of songs that played on the radio as a kid. (Well this was back in the days when Youtube was not born, when floppy disks were the only means to transfer data (CD and MP3 players weren’t as popular yet) and audio cassettes were expensive ). I am glad that lyrics and songs are now readily available and accessible to a wider audience and that this blog gets to play its small part in the grand scheme of things.🙂
Yes I have heard the song Phir le aaya dil, and I love it as much as you do.
Well if you like rekha bhardwaj, the song “badi dheere jali” from Omkara is on my favorites list too.
Do visit again.
Cheers
Krithya

Now, that is what it literally means, – aankhon ko choo lenge, gardan bhigo ke….but probably wets is not the right word, probably “saturates or covers” would be a better fit for “bhigo ke” .. It probably refers to what happens when you open the door and wind rushes in, going past the neck while merely touching the eyes, because one’s first reaction is either to close the eyes or just turn the head away from the wind. Its kind of hard to explain…how about 0:55-0:58 of the following song🙂 Main chali to jhoom uthi zindagi (which is also a nice song by the way :))

I am confused about this one line.
“Hoga nahi hum pe maaloom saathi, teeno jahan ka asar,”
What does Piyush jee mean by three worlds? I am already aware of the concept of two worlds in religious sense. But, this “three-worlds” is not making sense to me. It would be great to know your opinion.

Good point Junaid. So as far as my limited knowledge on the subject goes, Hinduism believes in three worlds : Heaven ( swarg lok) , Earth (Bhoolok) and Hell (Pataal). I would assume those are the three worlds that Piyush jee is referring to, but again I may be wrong, we may have to wait for a more knowledgable person on the subject to stumble upon your comment and shed some light or corroborate my comment.
Thanks for dropping by.

Hello Dear,
I would like to congratulate you for the wonderful work you have been doing via this blog. The most amazing thing about your interpretations is that you always add to the charm to the original text (not so usual with critics!). Kudos for that…i would be eagerly waiting for you to give a similar interpretation of ‘Tum ek Gorakh Dhandha ho” penned by Niaz Khialvi and sung by Dr. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan; of course at your own leisure. Enjoyed all the other interpretations as well. अल्लाह करे ज़ोर-ए-कलम और ज़ियादा….
cordial wishes,
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